Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Episode 11 Retaliation
by Janus2
Summary: AU after This Mortal Coil. The Team uses the tracking device to evacuate as many worlds as possible while work to deactivate the replicators continues to fail.
1. Chapter 1

**Stargate Atlantis**

**04x11**

**Retaliation**

Blue streams of plasma collided with the orange tint of the Aurora's shields, while orange octopus shaped objects collided with the blue energy barrier surrounding the Daedalus class ship, attempting to evade the drones the ship rolls 360 degrees before coming head on the Aurora with full military thrust firing two streams of superheated gas at once. On the command deck of the Daedalus class Odyssey Major Marks strains his eyes as the lights flicker intermittently.

"Shields at 15% sir," Marks called over the cacophony of battle as the bride flashed blue as something impacted the shields. "10%, I can't keep them up much longer sir."

In the command seat Colonel Davidson acknowledged Marks report before reaching the arm of the command seat. "Shepperd, how much longer, we can't keep this up."

Shepperd's voice came with a slight electronic distortion due to the signal amplification. "We've nearly finished the evacuation, five more minutes,"

The deck rolled to the side as the inertial dampeners failed to completely compensate some of the crew were nocked clean across the bridge. Marks pulled himself up to his console.

"Shields are at 8%, I'm using the ZPM to try to recharge them but I can't get enough power to them." Marks cried out as he frantically used his controls to keep the energy barrier that was all that protected the Odyssey from the onslaught of the Replicator built Ancient warship.

"I can't give you that Shepperd, 2 minutes max."

To Davidson's left an officer called out that the Aurora's shields was about to collapse, Davidson desperately called out to whoever was in control of the weapons to take them out.

The Odyssey rolled desperately to avoid five drones, two overshoot and turn to head back towards the target while three hit head on causing the Odyssey to loose directional control flipping over before running head on the Replicator warship, four streams of plasma impacted the orange barrier while the next hit dead on impacted the front of the Aurora. Causing an explosion with enough concussive force to force the Aurora downwards as a barrage of plasma streams take on the ships formidable hull armour causing massive damage as the Odyssey flies past the aft section of the Aurora firing another barrage directly into the engines causing the entire ship to go up. Just in time two as the two drones that missed have just re-entered range but power down as their power source doesn't exist anymore.

As sparks rained down from the ceiling Davidson wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Shepperd report,"

"All natives have been evacuated back to Atlantis sir, we're heading out now,"

Davidson rolled his eyes muttering '_now they're done'. _"Marks, damage report."

"Shield at 5%, life support operating at 45%, hyperdrives just spooling up, plasma beams are online and ZPM is at 65%."

* * *

Back in Atlantis Shepperd, Teyla and Ronan arrive to see McKay up in operations, however McKay has clearly spent far too long up as he is sagging against the dialling console to the irritation of the technician there, with dark circles under his eyes holding a now cold cup of coffee in his left hand.

"Shepperd, the next planet on the checklist is PX9-87G, you have ten hours till the replicator ships arrive, dial it up." McKay staggers up to the deep space sensors as the 'gate is dialled out; Shepperd briefly looks up in sympathy as they enter the wormhole to the next planet.

McKay phased out until in incoming wormhole started to open.

"Report?"

"Dr McKay the wormhole is coming from M3M-9Y8, and we're receiving Lieutenant Cadman's IDC," Chuck reports looking a lot livelier than the head of science.

"Let them in" McKay watches from the balcony as Cadman enters the city followed by a group of refugees that she beckons into the lost city of the Ancients, but to the horror of the people there the wormhole starts to destabilise, the liquid blue event horizon flashing white and phasing out before failing. In a blink of an eye Cadman dashed up the stairs into the control room, before she can get there McKay is already at the dialling console.

"Dial them back," he turns to look up into Cadman's eyes before turning to the subspace communication panel. "Get the Daedalus and Apollo on the line, and find out what happened"

"Lieutenant, report,"

Cadman looked briefly startled before answering.

"The Replicators arrived early, from what I heard from the Daedalus and Apollo the light cruisers arrived before the Auroras, I think they're onto us."

"Dam it," McKay swore. "This is the second time this has happened."

He once more sagged against the console.

"Colonel Carter still in negotiations?" Cadman asked concern in her face as McKay nodded in response.

"Dr McKay we have a channel to Colonel Caldwell," one of the technicians told him looking up from their console.

McKay nodded in response so the technician manipulated the controls causing Caldwell's voice to come through over the speakers.

"This is Daedalus to Atlantis, reporting that all refuges and Cadman's team are on board, we're withdrawing now, Daedalus out." McKay smiled in relief, this wasn't the first time the replicators had shut down the planetary stargates, he glanced up at Cadman to see the relief in her eyes at her team's survival.

The sound of steps clanging on metal came from overhead as Colonel Carter came down the stairs clearly in a far better state than Dr McKay, she rubbed her eyes before looking up at her head of science.

"Dear god, McKay how long have you been up!" Sam asked her eyes wide with surprise and concern.

McKay turned to her looking to all observers to be a walking corpse rather than a human.

"'bout 48 hours since I took charge up her, can't remember how many hours before," he responded groggily while leaning heavily on one of the raised consoles.

"Get some sleep now, that's an order!" Sam cried out looking at her subordinate as he prepared to fall over into unconsciousness.

"Before, I go I should report that Shepperd's has gone on to PX9-87G to continue evacuation efforts, I took Major Lorne's team off rotation when he showed up with half of them being dragged back with serious burns. I've enlisted Lieutenant Johnson to keep order on the West pier, according to reports some of the refugees are showing signs of discord and lastly, and probably the most importantly the replicators seem to be aware that we can only track their Aurora class ships, their smaller ships seem to be ahead of their Aurora's in order to keep us on edge. Lieutenant Cadman's team are on board the Daedalus due to damage to the stargate."

"Okay, Rodney, you've done a good job go get some rest," Sam said raising a hand to calm placing it on his shoulder. Rodney for once agreed without protest and turned to leave the control room before stumbling; Cadman raced forward and caught him. Before McKay could process she manoeuvred him so she supported some of his weight, she turned back to Carter.

"I'll get him to his quarters Colonel, if that's alright?"

Carter nodded as Cadman half-dragged McKay down the stairs, before turning to Chuck.

"He was doing a good job at running things, till he started to lapse into unconsciousness." Chuck smiled wryly up at her.

Sam in return groaned and ribbed her eyes.

"Is there any process on shutting down the replicator attack command?"

Chuck looked down at the floor shaking his head.

"No ma'am, Zelenka reports that even with the Wraith's help they've been unable to succeed."

Sam let out a breath of frustration, _what she wouldn't give for an Asgard right now._

* * *

The Daedalus and Apollo speed through hyperspace at a speed just above their maximum recommended safe velocity, especially with the damage inflicted during battle with the replicators. Their ships were based on Ancient designs, while not their latest versions used in the siege of Atlantis, but powerful enough to pose a serious threat. Both of the human cruisers were armed with the latest Asgard weapons they installed on the Odyssey to combat the Ori ships. However the replicator ships were bigger, with more powerful shields, thick hull armour and the ability to fire multiple omnidirectional weapons that can swiftly overwhelm their own Asgard designed shields. Only the Odyssey equipped with a ZPM can hold out long enough to take them out, the Daedalus and Apollo had to tag-team the enemy ships.

Caldwell surveyed the ships bridge; there was heavy damage, scorch marks from overloads. They were heading back to Atlantis as the ship was badly overcrowded and the already damaged life support systems were operating at over full capacity, and levels were building up.


	2. Chapter 2

Some planets are devoid of both Stargates and life, some were even devoid of an atmosphere, it was around one such planet the Odyssey appeared, coming out of hyperspace to affect repairs. Marks was put in temporary command as Colonel Davidson needed his rest, although he would normally be on the bridge, Marks was instead inside the Asgard core, while it wasn't his job he couldn't help himself. He was combing the core for every piece of data the Asgard had ever found on the replicators; so far it was nothing that they didn't already know. However his musing was interrupted when a ship wide alarm broke out.

Just behind the Odyssey a hyperspace window opened, four ships emerged, three of the smaller cruisers and a slightly larger destroyer, none of them had the same firepower as the larger Auroras, but more than the same number of even Ori ships.

"All hands to battle stations!" As the voice started out Marks was already through the door on his way to the bridge.

The ship rocked to the side as a number of drones from the destroyer impacted the shields. As Marks dashed onto the bridge he quickly relieved the duty officer from his station and sat down as Davidson entered the command deck.

"Marks, what've we got?" Davidson fell into the centre seat.

"Three Asuran light cruisers and one destroyer,"

"Hyperdrive?"

"Still powering up, sir," Marks said looking at his sensor feed in desperation.

"Get us away from them," Davidson roared as the ship took another few impacts.

The Odyssey flew at maximum speed away from the drone fire before looping back and firing the Asgard beams at the smaller ships, after several volleys one of the ships is destroyed but the others keep firing as the Odyssey cleared them and enters a hyperspace window to safety, heading on a random course.

* * *

"So how did they find you?" Shepperd had to ask the most obvious question humanly possible.

"_We don't know, we've dropped out of hyperspace twice since, but both times we've been ambushed by replicator ships," _Davidson was visible along with the rest of his bridge on one of Atlantis' plasma screens.

"_Sir, that's not entirely true," _Marks chimed in, causing everyone to turn towards him.

Sam seemed to realise what he meant. "The core?"

"_Yes ma'am." _At the questioning looks he received from the others Marks continued his theory. _"During the Ori invasion when the Asgard installed the core we found that its power source released a certain type of radiation that is detectable in subspace, this allowed the Ori ships to track us wherever we went. In order to stop this we had to disconnect the core from the ships systems and shut it down."_

"So why can't we do that now?" Shepperd had to ask the obvious, once again.

"_Because the Asgard fought replicators for years, there may be some data in there that could allow us to shut down the attack command,"_

Sam interrupted with perhaps a more immediate question. "How do you plan on losing them?"

"_There's a fleet of wraith ships about an hour out of our way, we plan to jump in and let the two fleets go at each over to their hearts content." _Davidson then signed off the coms channel as he prepared to execute his plan.

Shepperd turned to Sam.

"Any progress on shutting the attack command?" he asked already suspecting the answer.

"No, McKay should be up in a few hours to work with Zelinka and the wraith, but even simulations can only go so far and we don't know if they'll rewrite their base code again." Sam checked her watch. "You should be getting ready for your next planet,"

"Yeah, Teyla and Ronan are ready, I just don't like being one man down on my team,"

"Sorry, but McKay's needed here. And I need him conscious to work on the replicator code. Good luck with the next planet."

"Thanks," Shepperd nodded before making his way down to the gate area to join his team.

As Shepperd went through the 'gate Zelinka came dashing into the control room.

"Where's Dr McKay?" Zelinka looked scared, probably due to working with the wraith for long periods. "He was supposed to arrive in the lab two hours ago."

"I haven't seen him since Cadman took him to his quarters," Sam looked confused, Rodney was missing up on a chance to show his intellectual superiority.

"You left him alone with _Cadman?!"_ Zelinka was aghast.

"Why, what's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is there's a very good chance that they'd have killed each over after arguing!"

"Radek they won't have argued."

Zelinka just laughed. "Have you seen them together, all they do is argue,"

"Not this time, Rodney was barely conscious, she practically dragged him there."

That statement didn't do much to alleviate Radek's concern and at his face Sam began to walk to McKay's quarters with Radek falling into step behind her.

"What exactly is the deal between those two?"

Radek looked a little reticent, looking over his shoulder before answering.

"At the start of Cadman's tour of duty her consciousness ended up stuck in McKay's mind, eventually the two tried to fight it out over who would control the body, this caused certain parts of their biology to shut down. Ultimately Cadman volunteered to give up the struggle to let McKay live, he however found a way to save them both by using a 'gate crystal in the wraith darts dematerialiser to get them back into their own bodies, however just before they tried it Cadman took control of McKay's body and used it to kiss Dr Beckett."

Sam shuddered as the mental image passed through her mind.

The two turned the corridor to McKay's quarters where Zelinka removed the front panel of the door control and removed the centre crystal, placing it in his pocket he moved the top crystal down to the now vacant middle slot, he then pulled the one from his pocket bridging the two causing the door to open. The two quietly and cautiously made their way over to the bed, when they got there they found McKay fully dressed under the blankets fast asleep.

Sam turned to see Zelinka giving Sam a look that said just one thing, _you wake him. _Sam sighed and took a step forward.

"McKay, McKay," her hand gently shook his shoulder.

McKay's only response was to grumble and roll away from them. Sam grumbled and tried something else.

"Zelinka is smarter than you!"

Radek looked affronted, yet still McKay did not respond, he was still in deep sleep. Sam let out another deep breath before taking one last attempt after which she'd go to the lab herself.

"Dr McKay without your genius and brilliance we'll all be killed!"

Sam let out a grunt of frustration before dragging Zelinka towards the lab.

* * *

Seeker was an old wraith, he was old enough to remember the start of the war with the Ancients, he could also remember when the Asurans first began war against his kin, and he remembered his face when the image from the downed hive-ship of the Ancient warship was sent across the galaxy. The wraith initially thought that their enemy had returned, however it turned out that they'd found an even worse enemy with full access to the Ancients technology, until they'd been able to engage the shutdown command. Now they'd been set loose again, the wraith knew that it was the humans of Earth, the descendants of the Ancients.

*The Queen demands your presence*

The hive mind quivered as the consorts wishes formed inside Seeker's mind. He turned off the access to his research and headed towards the central chamber of the hive ship.

When Seeker arrived it was not just his queen and consort that that awaited him but also those from the two other hives and the commanders of the cruiser escort ships.

*Seeker, you are the head of this alliance's clever men, is there any progress on deactivating the Asurans*

It was his queen that had spoken, had it been one of the other queens he could breathe easy knowing that his queen had faith in him, however she clearly did not.

*We have had some progress reallocating the correlative subroutines to overwrite the base code on the kerons inside the nanites.*

The Queens for their dignity were able to keep their bewilderment to the confused fluttering of eyelids; the consorts on the other hand looked completely confused.

*What does that mean?*

Seeker was unaware which queen had spoken, he was internally jumping up and down in joy, he'd told them the truth which in reality meant that they'd made little to no process.

*It means some progress has been made and I need to return to my lab*

He focused solely on his queen how studied him like a piece of meat before coming to a decision. She nodded and gestured to the warriors at the door to let Seeker past. He bowed in respect before returning to his lab, sometimes the caste system definitely worked against them and sometimes it tied directly in with his interests.

* * *

"Preparing to drop out of hyperspace in ten seconds, ready to disconnect the core temporarily," Marks stood at the Asgard core ready to shut it down as soon as he was ordered.

"Alright, stand ready Major," Davidson's voice came over the internal communications channel as the Odyssey reverted to normal space.

The Odyssey ripped into normal space just in front of the wraith fleet before cloaking and heading off away from the hives.

"Shut down the core."

Marks smiled slightly, even after a year Davidson still didn't understand that he was the best, there was a reason he'd been promoted three times in a single year. He quickly moved his left hand poised on the Asgard stone to the correct rune shutting down the core interface.

As the Odyssey moved to a safe distance the Asuran ships appeared in the midst of the Wraith, the hive ships instantly opened fire on the kilometre long destroyer, they weren't pulling any punches either firing plasma bolts bigger than the Odyssey on rapid fire at them.

To their credit the wraith were able to get some damage before the Destroyers shields were raised.

Inside the force dome at the ships midsection the Asuran commander looked at his sensor feed, the neutrino-ion signature of the human ship was gone, but not that that mattered anymore, he felt a surge of insurmountable rage, there were wraith to destroy.

The Asuran ships launched drones by the dozen towards the hive ships, one was destroyed almost instantly while the second took sever damage.

* * *

With the very first impact Seeker killed the two dim-witted warrior escorts and dashed to the hives transport ship, while blades were traditionally loyal to the hive as a clever man he was freer to do as he wished and he knew that the alliance didn't have sufficient numbers to take out the attacking ships. As he entered the transport the consort stood before him.

*I thought I'd find you here, you swore an oath to this hive, and you will not leave.*

Seeker merely smiled, before charging at the consort, he swiftly punched the consort's stomach, as he doubled over Seeker slammed his right knee into his foes face. As the consort reeled from the impact his nose broken Seeker stroke again slamming his feeding hand onto the consort's neck, Seeker smiled as the consort doubled over in pain, he could also feel the fire of cannibalism through his veins, and he pulled his hand away.

The consort fell to his knees before Seeker, who once more smiled seeing the overgrown blade were he belonged, however he didn't have long, Seeker fired the stunner at the consort before powering up the transport and flying out.

Seeker instantly took evasive action as a phalanx of drones ripped through his hive; all this had no consequence to Seeker, all of his research was already on the transport.

The wraith cruisers moved toward the smaller Asuran cruisers on attack runs blasting bolts of plasma into the orange tinted shields, if they fired enough in a short time they might be able to allow the hives to escape, however they shortly realised that was not to be when the last two hive ships were consumed from the inside by secondary explosions and fires, the battle was done. The wraith blades in control of the cruisers however were not willing to run and hide, they veered at maximum speed towards the destroyer all at once, and from all angles. Except these where not attack runs, but kamikaze rums, the destroyer tried to take evasive manoeuvres before the six cruisers began to impact, the first, second and third harmlessly hit the shields while the impacts of the fourth and fifth collapsed them and the sixth hit the hull at point five of the speed of light. Metal screamed in protest as structural members bent and gave way as the section of hull armour was torn away from the ship, atmosphere poured out and the momentum caused by the impacted forced the ship into the atmosphere, deeper and deeper. The other cruisers looked on, the deaths didn't matter, each of them in the collective can be reproduced many times and new ships were already of the way.

* * *

Davidson looked on at the remains of the wraith fleet as the Asurans left; they'd stay in position for two more hours before heading back to Atlantis. While he'd seen service in the Ori war he'd known they faced superior opponents, however this was far different, these ships were more powerful and more deadly, and he was scared.

* * *

Seeker's transport sped through hyperspace, he was a genius and had reconfigured his ship to be almost undetectable like one of the cloaking devices employed by the Ancients. He walked from the organic control pedestal to the slumped body of the consort.

*Wake up you overgrown blade, I know you're conscious*

The consort opened his eyes and looked up at Seeker, he spat in his eyes.

*You traitorous cannibal, I should kill you were you stand…*

He was cut off when Seeker's hand again closed around his throat; he needed to know where his old friend was.

*My friend Guide commanded a hive ship, where did it go?*

The Consort refused to answer. So Seeker started to take.

*How many years must I take from you blade before you answer me?!*

The Consort didn't answer at first, until Seeker started pulling from the consort faster, in pain just before death he gave up the coordinates where Guide's hive was last seen.

* * *

Sam worked at McKay's station, with the wraith's help they'd made some progress, however it was not much, she never thought she'd miss McKay, however she found that she did, if only to let him toil on the coding.

"You've met an Ancient," The wraith's voice brought her out of her stupor.

"I'm sorry?" Sam hadn't heard what he had said.

"You have met an Ancient first hand, I can sense it,"

Sam turned to the wraith.

"Yes I have, his name was Merlin, or Moros I believe he was called."

The wraith burst out laughing, "So the self-serving coward survived,"

"What?"

"During the war he stayed behind Atlantis' shield for the entire war, while he seems to have shown integrity he has not a shred of it himself."

Sam turned from the Wraith as he laughed forcing herself to remember this was not the Milky Way and this particular Wraith as not a Tok'ra or an Asgard, he was like Ba'al only working with them because it benefitted him, he would twist words and manipulate them all. Sam once more wished McKay was there.

* * *

Shepperd had just returned to Atlantis and was on his way to McKay's lab, they'd just gone to off duty and he wanted to make sure that McKay wasn't still up. When he entered the lab he really didn't expect to see Sam working instead of McKay.

"Where's Rodney?"

Sam looked up glancing at the working wraith before turning to Shepperd.

"Couldn't get him up,"

"He made it to his quarters last night?"

"No Cadman had to drag him there,"

Shepperd smirked; thinking about McKay's reaction when he found out Cadman brought him to his quarters.

"Colonels Shepperd and Carter to the control room immediately." Chuck's voice bombed over the intercom.

Sam looked at Shepperd before gesturing to the security guards to take the wraith back to his cell while walking towards the door.

When they arrived Marks was standing at the top of the stairs leading to the stargate.

"Colonels" Marks saluted in greeting.

The two leaders of Atlantis saluted in return.

"What've you got Major?" Sam asked.

Marks began to head towards the control room and his two superior officers followed.

"We've been tracking the Asuran replicator Aurora class warships with the core drive till the all stopped and headed back to previous planets."

Looking at the sensor feed from the core drive confirmed this.

"Are they retreating," Shepperd asked looking hopeful.

"No, I've checked with the database and they're heading to planets rich with trinium, neutronium and naquada, they're searching for resources."

Sam took a moment to realise exactly what that meant.

* * *

Caldwell took pride in the fact that his crew were able to beat the odds time after time, however now he wished he'd stayed home. The shield emitters were completely burnt out meaning any further battles would be impossible. He turned to the officer at the helm console.

"How long till we reach Atlantis, I want to start repairs as soon as we get there,"

The officer adjusted the controls before answering.

"ETA in two and a half hours."

Caldwell nodded turning to the blue tunnel of the hyperspace conduit before he left the deck to head to his office.

* * *

Back in Atlantis all offworld evacuation teams had returned; some were helping with the refugees inside the city while others went off rotation and got some rest. Cadman for her credit wanted to get some rest, however she found that she was worried about McKay. When she'd shared his head she'd been creped out, she'd seen who petty and arrogant he was, however when she'd returned to her own body she knew that it was no more than a defence mechanism to try to keep people away, because he couldn't trust people who got close. As she entered McKay's lab she found it dark and empty, checking her watch she found it was about twelve hours since she dragged him to bed. Knowing McKay as she did she knew that he must still be asleep in order to be absent from his lab during a crisis. She still found herself walking towards his quarters.

She knew McKay hadn't changed the codes since they'd shared a body, he'd claimed he was too busy to bother. When she entered she saw he was more or less in the same position she'd left him.

"Rodney," she gently placed her hand on Rodney's shoulder and shook him.

Her attempt seemed to be more successful than Sam's and he awoke slowly looking up at the ceiling before turning to Cadman who smiled at him briefly.


	3. Chapter 3

McKay had of course grumbled and argued with Cadman, but in the end he had to concede that he had to get out of bed and see what was happening, he hated that she knew him better than anyone. He and Cadman split ways as he made his way to the control room. Walking up the steps he saw Shepperd, Sam and that Major, what was his name…

"Dr McKay good of you to join us," It was Shepperd, smirking at McKay as he grumbled up to the screen. "How was your nap?"

McKay glared at Atlantis' military commander before turning to Sam.

"What have I missed?"

"The Asuran replicators have pulled back to consolidate their forces, they can now track the Asgard core and to top it off there's a wraith transport on the way," Sam told her chief scientist.

"See what happens when I'm asleep, everything falls apart!"

* * *

Commander Olmada stood on the command deck of the Aurora class battlecruiser he commanded, he looked down at the planet covered with fabricator ships. The fabricator ships were used to harvest raw materials and bring them for construction purposes to be used for replenishing damage rendered by the humans and Wraith, Olmada was glad that the high council had been able to get that concession from Oberoth, the collective was supposed to be a democratic body motivated by the will of the masses, instead Oberoth used it to extend his will over the masses.

He turned to see the deep space sensors, a fleet of ten hive ships was on the way, Olmada knew that his ship was powerful, however it did have limits. Ten hives where at the edges of that limit, he should be able to hold them off for the fabricator ships but that would cause significant damage. For some reason that worried him until a single notion passed over his consciousness _deaths don't matter, each of us in the collective can be reproduced many times. _However the voice wasn't his own, it was a voice he recognised well, the voice of Oberoth, Olmada knew that the merges on occasion reset some of their number, he was reticent to allow his consciousness to be reset, for that was a fate worse than death.

* * *

Shepperd watched the Aurora class ship through the windscreen of the cloaked Jumper, McKay was still grumbling about something, Shepperd didn't actually know anymore.

"Hold on, the hives are here," McKay brought up the HUD to show the ten hives entering orbit of the planet opposite the Aurora.

A swarm of drones swept out of the forward bay on the Aurora and took down the first hive in seconds while the other nine opened up with high yield rapid fire blue plasma bursts. The hives then launched darts which swarmed to make it past the Aurora to reach the fabricator ships.

The point defence turrets on the Aurora flared to life firing bolts of plasma with pinpoint accuracy towards the darts taking many of them down while a second salvo of drones left the bays heading towards the hives targeting the weapons modules.

Inside the bridge of the Aurora Olmada watched the battle unfold; shields were holding at 80%, the darts weren't reaching the fabricators which were poised to enter hyperspace, overall it was going well.

A second and third hiveship was destroyed causing the others to decrease their rate of fire to increase the energy per shot, deliberately overloading their weapons to compensate for the lost ships.

The fabricator ships entered hyperspace as the Aurora moved so the hives were in the firing solution of the forward particle beam weapons, the first beam of green energy ripped straight through one of the hives destroying it instantly, the second battery fired graving another hive causing it to list to the side away from the battle. The Aurora then turned and entered hyperspace taking minimal damage from the hives.

"So that's how the wraith won against the Ancients,"

It was McKay that had spoken, looking onwards at the wreckage as the surviving wraith left.

"What do you mean, the Asurans could have won that," Shepperd was wondering exactly what McKay meant.

"Yes but how many drones were needed to take down those ships, how quickly can those be replaced, how many ships would arrive after, and after that. They'd barely be able to repair any damage and would eventually lose."

* * *

Seeker stood ready at the helm of the transport, drop out of hyperspace would be soon. He idly wondered what had happened to Guide, his hiveship was seen entering an uninhabited system where it had apparently stayed; such behaviour was unlike his old friend, unless something was there…

Atlantis was cloaked, with the Daedalus and Apollo moored into the piers included in the cloaking field. The Odyssey was cloaked in orbit ready to open fire if it turned out to be necessary.

In Atlantis' control room the resident Wraith was held at gunpoint by a dozen marines while the command staff observed the arrival of the transport.

As the sensor feed showed the arrival of the transport and the incoming transmission was a wide transmission, not to any specific source.

"Guide, are you there, I seek sanctuary,"

The transmitted voice continued to call out for guide.

"Seeker?" The Wraith called out in surprise.

The marines quickly moved their guns at the wraith as Sam turned to him.

"Who is he?"

"He's an old… friend, one thing you must remember, you must never trust him," The Wraith turned to look Sam in the eye to the discomfort of everyone there. "He is the most deceitful self-motivated being I've ever encountered, however he does sometimes offer something worthwhile."

"Guide, I know you're listening, my hive's been destroyed by the Asurans, I need your help." Seeker continued to speak over the communications channel.

"Guide?" Shepperd spoke looking pointedly at the Wraith.

"It's my name," Guide grated out glaring at the military officer.

"Answer him,"

Everyone turned to see that it was Sam that had spoken.

"What?" Everyone in the room including Guide blurted out in shock.

* * *

About an hour later Guide, Shepperd, Sam, McKay and Keller were waiting with a squad of marines for Seekers arrival.

"Just for the record I recommend that you attach explosives to him to detonate at the slightest sign of betrayal, that's what I'd do,"

Everyone looked at him thinking just one thing, _overkill_. Ronan however amongst the marines had just another thought, _I could get used to him._

Seeker walked in, leather gloves secured over his hands and a machine gun at the back of his head.

"Guide, I expect there's a reason for this, old friend," Seeker smirked maliciously at Guide.

Guide's nostrils flared and his eyes blazed with anger, his hands clenched tight to restrain himself.

"Friend, friend, the last time we met you sold me out to a rival alliance, I lost a thousand men in that single battle," if looks could kill Guide's glare would have killed Seeker dozens of times over.

Seeker laughed, his head thrown back.

"If I'd seen this then, you allied with the descendants of the Lanteans I'd have killed you on the spot, however we have bigger problems," Seeker turned from Guide to look at Sam. "I presume you're working with this thing to deactivate the Asuran attack command."

Sam nodded, Seeker clenched his fists and seemed to war with himself.

"Very well, I offer my assistance in this matter" Seeker was barely able to grate it out.

Sam nodded turning to Shepperd.

"You'll work to assist our lead scientist Dr McKay here in his lab alongside Guide, there will be a permanent security detachment and due to Guide's recommendation we will attach an explosive to your back which we'll detonate if you seem to betray us."

Seeker turned back to Guide.

"You told them about me, ah. Should I be blushing?" Seeker mocked his fellow wraith

* * *

Sometime later McKay found himself in the mess hall cradling an empty cup of coffee.

"Something wrong?" Cadman slipped into the seat opposite him with two cups of coffee, one of which she passed to the Canadian scientist. McKay greedily took the coffee and drained half its contents in one go.

"I can't go back in there," McKay looked distraught and terrified. "Those two wraith have taken over my lab and seem determined to kill each other, I've spent the last five hours having to keep them from each over's throats. Seeker seems determined to drive Guide mad."

"Playing mediator for wraith at each other's throats! How did that work?" Cadman was confused at how McKay of all people could play mediator, he could barely get along with his friends.

"Ha, ha, let's all mock the genius who can't get any work done,"

"Sorry," Cadman looked up at Rodney, who in turn smiled a little.

"Did lieutenant Cadman just apologise to me, of all people," McKay looked ready to jump up on the table and dance.

"Dr McKay please report to the main laboratory immediately." Chuck's voice came over the intercom.

McKay turned to Cadman in desperation.

"Come with me,"

"What?" Cadman couldn't have been more startled by the question.

"I can't go in there alone; otherwise I'll end up detonating the explosives attached to Seeker." McKay pleaded with her. "Just stop me from redecorating my lab with wraith insides."

Cadman grumbled an alright grumbling all the way to show her displeasure, doing a very good impression of McKay earlier in the day.

When they arrived the lab it was different from McKay's expectations; Sam, Marks and Shepperd awaited him. Shepperd had one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face at McKay and Cadman's entrance.

"What's going on?" McKay asked cautiously looking at the trio inside his lab.

"We've negotiated with the faction in this galaxy known as the travellers; they've agreed to allow us to use their ships in a limited capacity in exchange for habitation in the city." Sam looked troubled causing McKay and Cadman to share a look of trepidation.

"Temporarily till the crisis is over? Right?" Cadman test the waters looking uncertainly at Sam, who in turn shook her head.

"They want permanent residence in the city of the Ancients, in exchange we have usage of some of their ships, and the rest will be dismantled to be used inside the city. Apparently their entire fleet consist of around two hundred ships, about one hundred of their ships, barely functional ships are to be scraped. They use some kind of naquadria fusion reactor in their ships, we don't know how they compensate for the instabilities, but it works, together the reactors from those hundred ships will amount to roughly half a ZPM at full charge."

McKay's mouth dropped as he thought exactly what that meant, they'd have half power to the city, the stardrive, shields and drones at half strength as opposed to the third they had with their one ZPM. The possibilities ran through McKay's head and he came to one conclusion.

"What's the catch?" McKay knew one was coming; this was just too good to be true.

Seeing Sam's face Cadman chipped in.

"Ma'am?" Her face questioning.

"In return as well as the residence issue we are to modify their remaining fleets shields to resist drones and modify their weapons to be able to do more damage." It was Shepperd who answered looking troubled.

McKay began to understand why they were reticent to allow such advancements into the traveller's hands, when McKay was first introduced to the stargate program he wanted nothing more than for the Asgard to give them their technology and now they were in the Asgards position and wanting to come to the same choice only without the option to hold back the technology.

"Okay, so what do we do?"

Marks turned to McKay's screen and pressed a button showing what appeared to be an Asgard Beliskner class cruiser before turning back to the others.

"The shields the Asgard gave us for use on the Daedalus, Apollo and Odyssey are able to resist the drone weapons because of a specific frequency inside the matrices. The knowledge of how to resist drones was given to the Asgard when they were allied to the Ancients before they left for Pegasus, based on the information from the Asgard core it'll be simple for someone to add that to the traveller shield technology. Unfortunately their weapons will be harder to deal with, fortunately the core will also give us an answer. During the Ori crusade the Asgard developed the plasma beams to be used against Ori ships; during their research they initially tried to adapt their already existing pulse weapons to increase their power. From the core data I believe that the pulses are about half of the strength of the beams at full strength."

Shepperd's eyes where glazed over and had to interrupt the Major.

"Alright Marks can we get to the point, my head hurts," Shepperd was grimacing in pain from a headache.

"Marks will be sent up to show the travellers how to adapt their shields, while you McKay will use the data from the Asgard core to adapt the particle canons on the traveller ships if possible, or replace them altogether." Sam said looking at her head of science before continuing. "Zelinka will take over the work on the attack command."

McKay looked torn, he wanted nothing more than to no longer work with the two wraith, however he also wanted to be the one to shut down the attack command, after all it was his big mouth that had caused it to be activated. There was also that the since of failure of his attempts were an injury for his ego. In his musing he missed Sam's apology for pulling him off a project as she, Shepperd and Marks left the room, he was eventually pulled from his mussing by Cadman.

"Rodney, you alright?" Her hand was on his elbow and was looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, it's just that, I've… err…" McKay faltered before continuing. "I've never failed before, this whole thing's my fault, if I'd just kept my mouth shut on the Asuran homeworld all those months ago none of this would be happening and Elizabeth would still be here."

"Rodney listen to me," Cadman took McKay's hand and pulled his face up to meet hers. "Could you have known what strategy the Asurans would think of?"

"Well no, but we did know about the nano-virus"

"Could you have known Elizabeth would be captured?"

"Well no exactly, but…"

"Then it's not your fault, use your intellect to think not your arrogance, get you head out of your galactic ego and get those weapons modified," While she didn't raise her voice, her voice had become cold and unmoving but her eyes showed a determination.

McKay looked her in the eye before smiling.

"Thanks, I think I needed that,"

Cadman smiled back before turning to leave the lab, but McKay's voice stopped her.

"Cadman, look, these weapons modifications, I'm not really an expert on explosives, so if you can bring your knowledge of explosives rather than tap-dancing to the table it'll be appreciated."

Cadman smiled, the snark in his voice meant the McKay they knew was back, but she had to be sure.

"Sorry, McKay I must have misheard you, it sounded like you asked for my help,"

Cadman turned and smirked at the astrophysicists as he returned a calculating look, his eyes gleamed.

"I'm sorry, I was saying that any insights you might have would be welcome but not necessary." McKay smirked in return.

Cadman knew what he meant and took the seat by the computer screen and turned back to McKay who gave her a genuine smile.

"Thank you Cadman"

"Call me _Laura… _Rodney," she smiled back at him as he set to work on the Asgard data.

* * *

Back in Atlantis Teyla was searching for Shepperd, she had waited long enough, John was her friend, and she needed to tell him. She entered the gym to see Shepperd and Ronan sparring, she stood back and waited till Shepperd had been injured enough.

"John, can I talk to you?" Teyla asked walking towards him.

Shepperd held a towel to his forehead and answered an affirmative as Ronan left the room and the two fell into step alongside.

"There is something I need to tell you," Teyla asked looking nervous.

"Sure Teyla, what is it?"

Teyla took a deep breath before answering.

"John, I'm pregnant…"

* * *

In high orbit Colonel Davidson watched as a hyperspace window opened and an Aurora class warship appeared, had this been any other occasion he would have ordered weapons to be fired, however, this was different; this ship was expected, along with their escorts. The Aurora moved forward as another portal opened and ten traveller corvettes dropped out, the corvettes were the usual traveller generational ships, they were followed by an assortment of other ships of various designs and sizes appeared, mostly corvette size, but a few others were larger, none as big as the Aurora class, two of the ships were just under a third of the Auroras length.

A signal came in from the Aurora to the Odyssey.

"This is Larrin to Atlantis we are here as requested by your colonel Carter," The visage of the leader of the travellers appeared on the side view screen as Davidson turned to face her.

"This is Colonel Davidson United States Airforce, I've been authorised to transport Major Marks over to one of your ships to show you how to modify your shields and to escort your ships and crews down to Atlantis five at a time to allow for a controlled entrance to the city."

Larrin nodded in response.

"Very well send your crewman over and I'll send the first few ships down, not all of our ships have yet arrived, forty are part of the pre-agreed numbers to be dismantled, the remaining thirty other than this battlecruiser are here for upgrades the remainder of our fleet will arrive in the coming days."

Davidson nodded to Marks who in turn walked to the front of the bridge and beamed to the required coordinates cradling one of the Atlantis tablets as he vanished in a cascade of blue light.

As the channel closed Davidson turned back to the front window and asked to no one in particular.

_"I hope this is the right thing..."_


End file.
